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Original. Cutting. A fly-on-the-wall view of the immigrant experience in all its complexities and absurdities.

This is an epic read in length (some 500pages in my edition).

We follow the lives of Archie and Samad. They are two unlikely friends who re-meet in London in the 1970s. Samad and Archie served together in the second world war and the chapters devoted to their memories and what happened between them during the war, were my favourites. I think this is because it's the part of the book where I found the most warmth.

Archie and Samad both find wives. They have children who know each other. We get to know each of these people in detail - the wives, the children, the friends of the wives, the friends of the children, as well as a host of other characters that move in and out of their lives. In fact, there is so much detail on each person, at times I felt bogged down and had to stop reading.

However, detail is also the author's strong point and this detail is used to show us humour, irony at situations which race and racism place the characters in, the difficulties of immigrant families, religion and how it can turn into dogma, fate and odd circumstances and the way events from the past seem to shape the present.

I liked this book, though there were parts I didn't like because they were too long. The ending worked for me because all the threads came together to bring closure to each and every character's story - some of these endings were good and others were bad.

Swing Time​ISBN 0241144159

This was my second Zadie Smith, so I was well prepared for the slow pace of the prose and the detailed meandering through the lives of several characters.

We follow the friendship of two girls - they grow up in one of the poorer parts of London, both have dreams of fame and dance success and of breaking out of the confines of racial stereotyping.

The issues of racism are well explored and expanded to include West Africa, where the main character ends up working on a development project spearheaded by her superstar boss.

There are lovely nuances between all the characters, though, strangely, at the end I felt it was the main character whom I knew the least (she is never named) - whereas her best friend Tracey, her mother, her boss, the African friends she makes in the village and her colleagues are well drawn. This was a little frustrating and I wondered why the author had chosen not to tell us more about the heart of this main character.

I enjoyed reading this book though I think it's less of a story and more of a touching exposition on the interactions between ordinary people.